A Rainy Night in Hollywood

For my birthday, my friend Brent got me tickets to “Behind the Emerald Curtain,” a behind-the-scenes look at Wicked. Brent knows I am a big fan of the theater and the first time I saw Wicked was with him, front and center, for his birthday back in April.

The tickets were for yesterday afternoon’s tour, so Riley and I took the afternoon off work (thanks Kerri and Brad!) and drove up to L.A. for our Wicked adventure. We got there early enough to stop at a hole-in-the-wall pizza place for a bite before the tour. Los Angeles is a dirty city, but the grunginess actually adds to its mystique, if you ask me.

The tour took place in the lobby of the Pantages and inside the theater. It was given by two cast members and was super cool. Here are some things we learned:

Elphaba’s black dress weighs fifteen pounds.

It takes fifteen days to bead Glinda’s dresses. Her dress is the only symmetrical dress in the production, meant to exude order and normalcy in the off-kilter world of Oz.

The costumes are cleaned with water and vodka.

There are 25,000 pounds of electrics/lights hanging at any given time.

Wicked was originally developed as a film, not a musical.

The story never contradicts the original Wizard of Oz.

Glinda always has a pink spotlight and Elphaba has a green one.

The actors only have to be at the theater a half-hour before the show!

"C'mon, we'll be late for Wizomania!" --Glinda

Over 90 wigs are used in the show and they’re made with human hair.

After the tour, we bought tickets to the actual show and then had some time to kill, so we wandered up Hollywood Blvd. in the cold rain to Lucky Devil’s for dessert. Hanging out in Hollywood on a rainy Tuesday night was definitely a new experience! Riley was an awesome not-really-a-date date.

The lobby of the Pantages Theater is so gorgeous!

The show is so hilarious, exciting, beautiful, fun, interesting, and witty. The lights, costumes, music, acting, sets...everything comes together to create an experience that just blows me away every time I see it. I walked out of the theater last night as excited as I was the first time I saw it. After the songs, we just looked at each other wide-eyed, thinking, “I can’t believe how amazing the singing is.” Wicked is incredible!